JAKARTA (Bernama-Xinhua-Reuters): Indonesia aims to establish around 30,000 operational kitchens by the end of this year to support the government's free nutritious meal programme, which provides meals for students, pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers, and toddlers, the country's National Nutrition Agency (BGN) said Thursday.
The programme is a key part of the government's broader effort to improve public nutrition and reduce stunting nationwide, reported Xinhua.
BGN Deputy Head Sony Sonjaya said that while around 9,200 kitchens have been certified, only about 8,000 are currently fully operational, adding that more than 32,000 applicants have registered with the agency to participate in the programme.
Sonjaya expressed optimism that the 30,000-kitchen target would be met, citing steady progress in construction and certification.
The government noted that the free meal programme has generated 290,000 new jobs in the kitchen sector and engaged around 1 million farmers, fishermen, livestock breeders, and micro, small, and medium enterprises.
The country has been hit by several food poisoning issues among the youngsters in recent times.
Reuters also reported that more than 1,000 children in Indonesia's West Java have suffered food poisoning this week from school lunches, authorities said, the latest in a series of outbreaks and another setback for the president's multi-billion-dollar free meals programme.
The mass poisoning was reported in four areas of West Java province, its Governor Dedi Mulyadi told Reuters on Thursday, which came as non-governmental organisations issued calls to suspend the programme due to health concerns.
The latest cases followthe poisoning of 800 students who ate school lunches last week in West Java and Central Sulawesi provinces, supplied under President Prabowo Subianto's signature free nutritious meals programme.
Questions have been raised about standards and oversight of the scheme, which has expanded rapidly to reach over 20 million recipients, with an ambitious goal of feeding 83 million by year-end.
The programme's 171 trillion rupiah ($10.2 billion) budget will double next year.
